ERIC Number: EJ1037486
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014
Pages: 21
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1048-9223
EISSN: N/A
Age of Acquisition and Sensitivity to Gender in Spanish Word Recognition
Foote, Rebecca
Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics, v21 n4 p365-385 2014
Speakers of gender-agreement languages use gender-marked elements of the noun phrase in spoken-word recognition: A congruent marking on a determiner or adjective facilitates the recognition of a subsequent noun, while an incongruent marking inhibits its recognition. However, while monolinguals and early language learners evidence this gender-marking effect, late learners do not (Guillelmon & Grosjean 2001). The goals of this study were to determine whether early learners who are not dominant in the gender-marking language (Spanish) can use gender cues in spoken-word recognition and whether the ability of both early and late learners to do so is a function of the noun's gender-marking transparency. Results of a word-repetition task, completed by 32 native Spanish speakers and 64 English-dominant early and late learners of Spanish indicate that both types of learners make use of gender cues during spoken-word recognition, and that gender-marking transparency may influence this process.
Descriptors: Language Research, Spanish, Nouns, Phrase Structure, Form Classes (Languages), Cues, Grammar, Word Recognition, Speech Communication, Age Differences, Second Language Learning, Native Language, English (Second Language), Language Dominance, Bilingualism, College Students, College Faculty, Task Analysis
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A